Effects of the Media
We are barraged by the media everywhere we turn, whether its on television, radio or even print. There are two main models that drive the media; the market model and the manipulative model. The market model states that the public determines what is and is not newsworthy. I believe this model is true to some extent but I think the manipulative model is more accurate. The manipulative model states that the news reflects the interests of the powerful. I believe that we stated out with the market model but our sources of media have been consolidated to the point that it is dominated by big business. This leads to the opinions of the heads of those companies being dispersed throughout and represented by nearly ALL of your choices for which news network to watch. I still believe there are slight influences of the market model however because the owners of the media companies understand that they must still appeal to the masses in order to remain in position to influence the rest of what shows up in the media. Our sources of media are more consolidated now than they have ever been.
The effects of this are extremely evident in the War on Terror. Following the manipulative model, you can see how the government overloaded public discourse with colorful terms that evoke a lot of emotion such as "September 11th", "terrorist", "Saddam Hussein" and many other key words which are reminiscent to the way the media used "crack moms" and "predatory criminals" to garner support for the War on Drugs. This created a culture of fear, in which people were so afraid terrorist attacks that they supported the war. We as a society also fell victim to the precautionary principle in the sense that people were afraid of Muslims and people of Arabic descent so as to "play it safe".
In this section, I have complied a few videos to highlight how media outlets has been used against the public.
***DISCLAIMER: It is not my intention to talk down on any one news company in particular. These are simply videos that came up on my YouTube search and I tried my best to make it as diverse of a selection as possible. Please be critical of ALL media.***
***DISCLAIMER: It is not my intention to talk down on any one news company in particular. These are simply videos that came up on my YouTube search and I tried my best to make it as diverse of a selection as possible. Please be critical of ALL media.***
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